A compound document is a document that includes assets, such as images, spreadsheets, digital videos, digital audio, and other multimedia features. Using conventional techniques, a compound document is typically produced using word processing software or page layout software, intermingling regular text with assets (e.g., images, spreadsheets, digital videos, digital audio, and other multimedia features). Assets in compound documents typically have different versions. Conventionally, different versions of an asset in a compound document are managed by deleting and replacing undesirable versions with desired versions. Conventional techniques such as a version control system are used to track multiple revisions of an asset. Changes to the asset are identified by incrementing an associated number or letter code. For example, the initial version of an asset is assigned version number “1” and when the first change is made to the asset, the version number is incremented to “2,” and so on. With some conventional techniques, a user can choose to update a given asset to the latest version of the asset. For example, if a compound document has version “2” of an asset and the latest version of the asset is version “5,” some conventional software allows the user to update the asset to version “5,” but the user can not preview or choose version “1,” version “3,” or version “4,” using conventional techniques. Users are unable to navigate between versions of an asset without incurring manually-intensive efforts to add, delete, and replace assets (e.g., images, photos, spreadsheets, or the like). For example, if a user wants to view different versions of an asset within the document, the user must manually add one version, view the version within the document, delete the version, and continue the process for each version the user wishes to view. This is both time-consuming and labor-intensive. Further, conventional software does not allow users to freeze a compound document in time, setting the current versions of the assets for the compound document and preventing unwanted updates to the compound document.
Thus, a solution for previewing and selecting versions of an asset in a compound document without the limitations of conventional techniques is needed.